Category Archives: Phish

Well well well…..it has been quite a while since I have had the motivation to write anything in this space and I really don’t have any excuses except that I am lazy as a sloth. Just to bring you up to speed here are a few of the highlights/lowlights in my life since my last post on March 13th 2012.

I should be excited I guess. We locked up one of the best closers in the game to a long term contract basically for the same amount that we paid Brad Lidge to rehab his shoulder/knee/elbow/ego the last three years. Ruben and the rest of the front office basically decided that they were not going to pay close to 50 million dollars to Ryan Madson to become the closer, based on less than one solid year of doing the job. While Madson was tremendous this year, he doesnt have the history that Papelbon has, and when you are shelling out 50 million to someone, it better be a sure thing.

Ok...maybe i could root for this guy

I have to say this one is a little tough to swallow for me. Madson was easily one of my favorites on this team. I got an opportunity to go to spring training this year and sat in the berm in the outfield near the Phillies bullpen. He was in there cracking jokes, signing autographs and basically being the all around good guy that everyone had grown to love over the course of his career in Philly. Not that this helped him win games, but its always nice to have someone on your team who is a nasty reliever and good person to boot. I will always remember the 2008 run to the title when he seemingly gained about 5mph on his fastball. He was the bridge to Lidge and he did a damn good job of it. His new found dominance was one of the key aspects to why the Phils won it all that year.

Now I have to root for a guy that i made a living making fun of for about 5 years. I hated the stupid dance he did in the World Series. I hated “Shippin up to Boston.” I hated how long it took for him to throw a pitch. I loved when he blew the Red Sox season this year.

I can only hope he has the right frame of mind to change his entrance song. Which is about 50% of the reason i either like a closer or hate him. One of Madson’s weaknesses was his entrance music of “Dont Stop Believin” by Journey, which was corny as hell. Lidge had some crazy heavy metal which is par for the course in the world of closers. I have a few suggestions for Jonathan that may help him endear himself to the Philly Faithful.

Well you are probably not going to hearing a whole lot from me considering I hate sports now. But some good news did emerge from the rubble of my soul today. Phish is doing a four night run at Madison Square Garden for New Years Eve. I just entered the lottery and could potentially have about $750 coming off the books if I hit on all of them (never gonna happen). So I thought I would share some of Phish’s best nights at the round room. Good luck, these tickets will probably sell out in about .11 seconds so hit that lottery and hit that bitch hard. Oh and if you have any extras tweet me! @Captain_Dan95

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AHHHHHHhh Back to reality today as I have now spent a full two days back in the real world after a unbelievable weekend at SuperBall IX at Watkins Glen. After consuming roughly 190 beers and 65 hot dogs/cheeseburgers/quesadillas/sausages (estimates), my July 4th was spent driving down from Watkins and then sleeping in a bed for 14 hours. So many highlights to talk about so let’s get it started:

Tonight marks the return of summer Phishing to my favorite venue the E Centre, Tweeter Center Susquehena Bank Center. A solid group of my asshole buddies friends are making the trip to our home court to take in the festivities. While their are a lot of people out there who tend to dissect every thing and note the band does (yeah i know pot calling kettle black), I for one really try to use each show as a way to enjoy myself (pun intended). If Ernest screws up a section in one of the oldest songs in his repotoire (see Divided Sky, Holmdel) I do my best to roll with the punches and move past it. Getting too caught up in the perfection of every note is not only stupid, its unhealthy. While we may all think that they are somehow superhuman and capable of perfection every time, they are not. They are humans just like us (although i do notice some Jedi tendancies as well sometimes). This tour has noobs and Jaded Vets alike looking at themselves in wonderment as we are witnessing easily the best tour in the past 8 years. I fully attribute this to one thing. The band does not give a fuck what we think. Don’t misinterpret that as they dont care about us and our experience, because they most certainly do. Phish has noticeably been play more repeat songs his tour than any I can remember. You know why? You guessed it: They dont give a fuck. I heard Carini twice in 6 days because they wanted to rock the fuck outta that song again. They played Suzy Greenberg twice as well because it gives them as many chills as it does the audience when everyone screams the chorus together when Kuroda hits us with the lights. I refuse to let something that I truly love turn into something negative. And all the Jaded Vets out there can say “Well you never saw REAL phish man”, and I will tell them the following : Fuck off. So i hope to see you all there tonight, i’ll be the guy in the pit with the melted face.

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Whatup errbody. Im back and better than ever after the best vacation week of my life. I got to spend some time with some of my oldest and best friends and do what we do best, which is getting obliterated silly at Phish shows. I’m not going to give you every last detail but i thought i would give you the cliff notes version of what went down.

Bethel

I have to say, if you get a chance to go to this venue, do it. The place is just unbelievably beautiful. Rolling hills, green grass, great weather, and you can almost envision the original Woodstock taking place with hippies tripping on LSD, wandering around looking for the stage. Phish decided to set the tone early with a tour opening Tweezer that really got everyone fired up for the whole weekend. Wooks and Custies alike were high fiving and in full rage mode for the remainder of the first set that included an obvious nod to a former performer at the hallowed grounds with a Axis: Bold as Love set closer. Set two featured standout performances of Waves–>Prince Caspian which had the crowd roaring for more. A Julius encore was a great way to end the fantastic tour opener for the phab four.

Night two started off with a Theme From the Bottom Opener, which at first thought seemed odd, but after some consideration I love. Set 1 high lights included a Great Bathtub Gin–>Manteca–> Gin jam that really had the crowd sharin in the groove. Set Two Opened with a rousing Down With Disease–>Free—>Backwards Down the Number line which saw fine work from everyone onstage. A crowd pleasing Makisupa Policeman, which Trey took the opportunity to let everyone know that he’s still smoking spliff, got a solid cheer from the crowd as the band inter-played within the song, allowing for a solid solo from everyone. A Day in the Life encore sent the crowd away with smiles from ear to ear on night two.

Night three was my first in the pavilion for the year and let me tell you, I never want to sit on the lawn again. The sheer volume that is generated underneath the pavilion at the outdoor sheds is worth the price of admission. Night 3 started off with a solid version of AC/DC bag that kicked off the night. Other first set highlights were a fantastic version of Suzy Greenberg–>46 days, which has been taken completely to another level after the Holiday 2010 run at MSG. Second set opened with a real down and dirty version of Mikes–>Simple–>Weekapaug that had the audience clamoring for more. What makes me love phish so much is what they did next. Just as i was catching my breath they played my great white buffalo. The opening riff for Meatstick sent the audience into a frenzy as everyone howled in delight. Other Set two highlights included the always funkfied 2001 as well as a sublime version of Slave to the Traffic light. The encore was an expected Loving cup–>Tweeprise which absolutely blew the roof off the place.

Overall I couldn’t have been more happy at the Bethel shows and I really hope that they go back and play there again. This was just Part 1 of Dan’s Vaca tour so stay tuned for part two coming up tomorrow. Until then check out some video highlights:

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Its almost that time of year again kids. TOUR SEASON. While the millions of readers that this website generates may not know this, we kinda like Phish. And by kinda like, i mean we dont make any plans until we know where they are touring. Being that this site focuses on the rivalries between Philly/NYC, which are also a hotbed of phish fans, i just thought i would give you guys a few nuggets (pun intended) to get you through the day.

Watch as Trey Drops the Boom Stick on our faces in Philly in 2009

And since were equal opportunity Phish Fans here, Here is Phish at MSG on 1/1/11, or as i like to call it “The day Phish made me crap myself”